As part of an annual winter meeting, the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association is sponsoring a Hill briefing today, February 25 at 3pm in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 124, in coordination with the House and Senate NEMW Coalitions. State program directors will provide an update on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), its status, and the impact of potential budget cuts. Recent funding levels enable LIHEAP to provide temporary heating and cooling assistance to about 8 million low-income households across the country. NEMW states receive about 60% of these funds. Should sequestration occur, LIHEAP is most recently estimated to receive a cut of about 5 percent for FY2013. The program is a top priority for many NEMW Members; NEMW Representatives Ed Markey, Peter Welch, and NEMW Co-Chair Representative Jim McGovern sent a letter to House leadership and Appropriations last week urging protection for LIHEAP.

For more information, contact Kate Ostrander or Mike Gaffin, Legislative Directors of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional and Senate Coalitions, respectively.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey released an interim report on the Asian Carp Environmental DNA Calibration Study on Tuesday, February 20, 2013. The three-year study received support through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to improve implementation, understanding, and interpretation of Asian carp environmental DNA (eDNA) information. The report considers various sources of eDNA that are not live fish, as well as eDNA retention rates and movement by birds, barges, and water flow. The agencies will host a stakeholder conference call on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, at 11 am EST. Call-in information as well as the report is available via the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee website.  

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

NEMW Co-Chair Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) is helping lead a symposium to highlight the range of impacts of Asian carp, as well as actions that have been taken to combat their destructive economic and ecological impact in, and threat to, the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri Rivers and Great Lakes Basin watersheds. The symposium is part of the National Invasive Species Awareness Week and Great Lakes Days. The event will feature information tables from each of several regions to emphasize coordination across the whole section of the country - whose impact area stretches across almost 30 states - to help build awareness and share best practices.  Several state representatives will present on regional responses, as well as larger national efforts.  The event will take place in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center Room 217 from 3:30-5:00 pm on Wednesday, March 6. 

For more information, contact Kate Ostrander, Legislative Director for the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition or Danielle Chesky, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute. 

Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and Great Lakes Task Force Member Rep. Dan Benishek (MI-01) led a House of Representatives letter to the President requesting "sufficient funds for operations and maintenance" in the FY2014 budget request. Specifically, he contended these funds should be equivalent to anticipated revenues to be deposited into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for the coming year. Congress established the HMTF in 1986 to recover the operation and maintenance costs, mainly dredging to the authorized depths and widths, of coastal and Great Lakes harbors from maritime shippers. The federal government levies the tax based on  cargo value at a rate of 0.125%. Congress appropriates funding for operation and maintenance activities of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from the HMTF revenues. Total funding on operations and maintenance has been lower than the amount deposited in the fund for over a decade, leading to a projected accumulation of funds of over $8 billion by the beginning of FY2014. The letter highlighted the importance of federal ports and harbors, and their continued maintenance, for the U.S. economy. The letter included 20 members, ranging geographically from Alaska to Florida. The letter echoes another letter sent to the Office of Management and Budget in August 2012 from 25 Senators, which similarly requested the inclusion of "sufficient funds for operations and maintenance of federal harbors and ports equivalent to the estimated revenues collected into the fund for FY2014" in the upcoming FY2014 budget request.

Legislation has been introduced in past Congresses to modify the management of the HMTF revenues, including how much and to which harbors the funds will be distributed. The Northeast-Midwest Institute prepared a summary of 112th Congress legislation in anticipation of further activity in the current Congress. Champions of the issue in the 112th Congress have already reintroduced some legislation in the 113th Congress, including the RAMP Act by Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-03) and the Harbor Maintenance Act by Sen. Carl Levin (MI).

For more information, contact Danielle Chesky, Director, Great Lakes Washington Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized five facilities with the Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Award for their efforts to reduce emissions that threaten public health while increasing energy reliability and efficiency. CHP, also known as cogeneration, simultaneously produces electricity and useful heat from a single energy source. The five award winners included four institutions from the Northeast-Midwest region; the fifth was located in Texas. The four NEMW CHP facilities were:

• Medical Area Total Energy Plant, LP, Boston, Mass.
• Montefiore Medical Center, New York, N.Y.
• New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, N.Y.
• New York University, New York, N.Y.
• Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

For more information, contact Colleen Cain, Senior Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

The New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program (HEP), in partnership with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, is requesting proposals for projects promoting stewardship of the Estuary and public access to its waterfront and waterways. Approximately $74,000 is available for local communities to "adopt" a waterfront site or stretch of shoreline and conduct a variety of projects and/or events to enjoy, promote access to, improve, and/or learn about this segment of shoreline in the community in the context of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. The NY/NJ HEP will host an informational webinar on February 26. Applications are due April 3. Download the request for proposals and supporting materials here.